Canon 7D - 1080p video playing choppy on laptop?

My first post here! I understand this may be discussed before but I'd like to know how I can simply play 1080p videos on my laptop. It plays really jumpy/choppy on Quicktime and VLC. I have 4GB of RAM, dedicated video card (ATI Radeon HD 4330 Graphics Card). Am I suppose to convert the file right out of the camera to make it play? The videos play smoothly on my TV, right off the 7D. Thanks!
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